Marked for Life
by CaliahAndTauran
Summary: "In my world there are three types of people. There are those who will help the world go on. Those people will create inventions, and cures, and peace. Then there are those who will rebel. They don't want to be part of the world that's been created, and so they run. They'll never settle down, and never be satisfied. Then there are the people like me. We will amount to nothing."
1. Chapter 1

In my world there are three types of people. There are those who will help the world go on. Those people will create inventions, and cures, and peace. Then there are those who will rebel. They don't want to be part of the world that's been created, and so they run. They'll never settle down, and never be satisfied. Then there are the people like me. We will amount to nothing. Anything we say or do won't go down in history. It won't matter, and we'd be lucky if someone even took the time to listen to us.

Each one of us is born with a birthmark. Blue, green, red, black, any and every colour you can think of, in various shapes and sizes. These colours categorize us and decide our fate. Those bearing warm coloured marks are flawed. They'll have mental illnesses, be mutants, or have a barrier preventing them from being useful to our society. The World Government had decided that due to the Earth's ever skyrocketing population, those are the type of people who will be sacrificed for the good of the Earth.

It'll be us who die so those with the cool colours can live. It's not as if they go about it in a cruel way. They give us time to live, and those who don't off themselves are done away with once they've turned 18. For most of us that means we won't live much past graduation.

Those who remain have birthmarks in shades of black and white, and everything in between. They're spontaneous, and because of that The World Government banished them from society. Their unpredictable nature could be grounds for something great, but could also spark rebellion and that just wouldn't do.

After telling you this I guess I should tell you who I am. It comes with no great joy that I introduce myself to you as Dave Strider. Sixteen years old, and destined to die in two years. I stand in my room, the feeling of dread flowing through my veins. Although today was the day I was given birth, it was also be the same date as my death.

My eyes flicker over to my mirror hanging on the back of my door. Will I look the same then as I do now? Pale faced with a splash of freckles across my nose and light gold hair framing my face? Lanky with hidden muscles that surprise the cool colours who pick on me at school? The one thing I know that won't change is my mark. It's a bright unnatural red in the shape of a gear and it covers my eye.

Some of the warm colours are lucky; they can hide their marks because they're in places under clothing. They can lie about their colours, and nobody bats an eye. I raise a hand to cover my right eye. I want it gone. Every time I look in the mirror it's all I can see, and it taunts me with the inevitability of my doom. It's shape mocks me, as if saying "your time's running out".

A knock on my door shakes me out of my depressed musings. Bro pokes his head through my door, his ever stoic expression strained.

"Hey lil' bro… Happy birthday."

He quickly tosses something to me, and I snatch it out of the air. The door shuts and he's gone, leaving me alone with a object wrapped in newspaper. Bro's the fortunate one in our family. At one point our family had been large, and I had three restless brothers and a loving mother and father.

Mom had been a light purple mark, just barely missing the bottom rung of the cool colours. She had been clinically depressed, and had turn to drinking in hopes that it'd kill her before The Government could. Then she met my dad. He'd been an outcast, marked with a grey sword on his arm. He'd been allowed into our city because he was a phenomenal mechanic at such a young age, and that's how he met my mom.

They had fallen in love and plotted to escape the city together. They had almost exceeded, but then the security had gone up around the city parameters. Instead of fleeing they hid inside the city. They made a life for each other, and in time my eldest brother was born. He had a red circle on his ankle. Since he was the first of their children. Bro had jokingly called him Alpha, and the title stuck.

Next Bro was born, a relief to both of my parents. He had taken after my father and sported a black mark on his shoulder in the shape of two triangle touching. Dirk was born a few years after them, and to my parents dismay he was a warm colour. An orange birthmark took its place on his chest in the shape of a baseball hat. He always told me he hated it, finding it ridiculous because he wouldn't wear a hat to save his life. It would've messed up his hair.

Two years after him came me, and another brick of sorrow settled itself on the back of my family. Out of their four children three had a death sentence. By the time I was two my parents had been found, and even though my father was a grey mark, they executed him for harboring my mother. They left me and my brothers in Alpha's care who was my age at the time.

I never got to know Alpha like Bro and Dirk did. I was too young to understand what death was when they took him away, but I remember Dirk sobbing, and Bro clinging onto him. Our once large family was growing gradually smaller and smaller. Now it was Dirks turn. His birthday is two days after mine, and in those two days I will only have one brother left.

My door opens, and he comes in. I'd expect those with a timer on their life would be a lot more somber in their last few days, but not Dirk. He smirks at me and plops down on my bed.

"Quit moping Dave. Jesus, it's your fucking birthday! Have some fun, it won't last forever."

At that last part I flinch. It doesn't go unnoticed, and his expression softens.

"You don't have to worry about me, you know. I have something to tell you."

"Wait, don't tell me. You're gay," I say an eyebrow raised.

He smacks the back of my head and grins at me.

"Shut up smartass, you already knew that. Anyway, what I was getting at is that I think I can get out."

"Get out?"

"Do I have to repeat myself David Elizabeth Strider? Yeah, I think I can get the fuck out of this city before my birthday."

"How?"

My stomach churns with excitement and hope. I might not have to lose another sibling. He could be the one that survives.

"Jake says he knows a way out of the city, and he wants to come with me."

I instantly grimace.

"Isn't Jake a green mark? Why would you trust him?! All that his kind wants is to kill us off."

"Well we're dating."

He says it so blatantly that I can't help but freeze.

"For how long-"

"Two years. Trust me, I think I'd know if he was going to stab me in the back."

I rub the back of my neck, my excitement slowly fading.

"You know security is still going to be a problem? They've gotten lax, but they will shoot you on sight."

"I'd rather die trying to live, than die without hope."

 _ **(A/N:**_

 _ **Hey it's Caliah again. So I'm hoping this is going to be a short story? Like max four chapters. So if you didn't quite get it Alpha is alpha Dave, but they're siblings in this. The mother and father in this aren't canon in any way, but I'd like to think of the dad being a mix of all the Strider boys :P I think I'll be posting the first and second chapter in the same day? But if not expect the second chapter soon. :) Thanks for reading! I don't make any profit off this story, and Homestuck belongs to Andrew Hussie. Feel free to check out me and Tauran's other stories!)**_


	2. Chapter 2

The Government had always looked down at us warm colours having funerals. They believed only the best deserved to be mourned. I think they're wrong. Dirk died one day ahead of schedule. He would've been glad he went down fighting and along side the one he loved most.

Dirk had been right about trusting Jake. The two of them had snuck out the night after my birthday, and Jake showed Dirk where he had found a hole in the fence. They had it all planned out; they knew when and where the guards would be in the moments they tried to escape. The plan was suppose to be absolutely foolproof, but the one thing they didn't expect was trouble from someone who wasn't a guard.

They had just made it to the fence when a man had shot Dirk. The shot had alerted the guards, and their plans went crumbling to the ground. The man had told the guards later he had seen them heading towards the fence and suspected they were warm coloured marks trying to escape. He was partially right, and gave his brief condolences to Jake's family upon discovering he was a green mark.

Jake had stayed by my brother's side when he was shot, and whipped out his own guns to retaliate. When the man saw the weapons gleaming in the moonlight he had shot Jake too. Jake's family now hated us, and had apparently not known who he was fraternizing with.

Dirks funeral was a small affair. A few of our neighbors went, as well as his friends from school. It surprises me that his friends went. Most of them were his age, and had a matter of days left. They could've been doing anything else, but they chose to pay their respects to him.

A willowy girl approaches me, dressed in a black crop top and black slacks. Her two long braids waver in the evening air, and I notice a fuchsia mark on her forearm in the shape of the pisces sign.

"He was brave."

I nod solemnly. The girl stuck out her tan hand towards me, and I take it.

"I'm Meenah. I have a little sis in your grade."

"Feferi?"

"That's her. Look buoy, I have about two weeks left, and I was wondering if you could look out for her? You don't have to be her frond or anything, just don't let too many people pick on her, okay?"

"I'll do what I can. But just because you knew Dirk."

Meenah ruffles my hair with a sharkish grin.

"You're just like him, ya know that?"

o0o0o0o

I know just about everyone at the funeral, so when I see an unfamiliar face I grow curious. A boy about my age stands on the edge of the crowd looking nervous. He's biting his lip, and his eyes are dashing between the group of people surrounding the casket and the parking lot.

"Can I help you?"

He stiffly turns to face me, and as he did my eyes latch onto his mark. Two swirling lines, bluer than the sky. My eyes narrow, and he takes a step back.

"L-look I'm not here to start anything, I promise!"

His voice is sincere and he adjusts his square glasses, looking at the ground.

"Jake was my cousin. He really loved Dirk, and I just had to come. He would of wanted me to I think."

"Were you two close?"

"I was the only one he told when he started going out with Dirk."

He was starting to relax, and he held his arms loosely at his side. He has tousled black hair and eyes that match his mark.

"I'm really sorry."

This catches me off guard. I have never heard any cool marks apologize to a warm mark. For _anything_.

"For what?"

"Your brother didn't deserve that. No one would. There's enough death in this city and they just had to go and-" He pauses with a ragged breath.

"Sorry you probably already know all that."

"I didn't know your type even cared."

A look of hurt flashes across the boys face and he replies sadly, "Not all of us are like them."

With that final statement he gives me a small nod and walks towards the parking lot. He climbs into one of the nicer cars, and within minutes it's out of sight.

o0o0o0o

The next time I see the boy it's in my homeroom. It's the first day of my junior year, and hateful eyes follow me wherever I go. It's not anything new. This happens every year, all year. By the time the bell rings for homeroom I'm already in my seat, head down on my desk and buried in my arms. Maybe if they can't see my mark I'll be invisible. They might leave me alone then. Someone shoves my chair closer to the desk, and I peek from under my arms into the scowling face of Karkat Vantas.

Karkat is school wide regarded with awe. People don't quite know what to do with him. He has an unusual mark, formed like the cancer sign. One half is red and the other is grey. Two coloured marks are almost unheard of, and The Government is still stumbling over themselves trying to figure out what to do with him.

You'd think all the attention would turn him into a douchebag, and well, I guess he is in his own sense. He's constantly angry at something, and doesn't know the definition of having an indoor voice. He does have a good heart though, and he's kind in his own way.

I realize he pushed my chair in so he could get behind me to sit at and empty desk on the other side. I scoot in farther and he stomps past, dropping his bag on the floor in between us. It makes a loud thudding noise, drawing attention to us from our classmates. I glance at them each in turn, poker face in place. Some turn in disgust, others shrug and go back to work. And then there's _him_. From the funeral. I do a double take, because he's waving at me. And smiling. What the hell.

I turn my gaze down, eyebrows furrowed. It'd be in his best interest if he doesn't associate with me. Warm mark sympathizers can be treated just as bad as warm marks themselves. I hear the chair next to me that isn't occupied by Karkat be pulled back. Dammit, these are our assigned seats for the whole year, if it's a cool mark asshole I'll move. Karkat will probably follow me, and I'll just make sure to sit next to a wall.

"Hey."

It's him again.

"You should probably sit somewhere else."

He tilts his head in confusion.

"Why?"

Is he fucking stupid?

"Your kind who hang around us warm marks end up hurt. Go sit elsewhere."

"I'm John."

"I don't care."

"And you're Dave, right?"

I let out an aggravated sigh. I originally thought he was meek and skittish, but now he's just annoying. Karkat leans forward in his seat trying to see who I'm talking to.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm John!"

"You better fucking listen to Dave. He actually gives a shit what will happen to you if you start talking to us. I don't."

John purses his lips and gives me a sideways glance.

"Please? You seem cool, and I don't really like anyone else in this class."

He's making a mistake. No cool mark in their right mind would befriend a warm mark, it would only end in loss. I can't really stop him though.

"I can't stop you from sitting here. Do what you want," I say dismissively.

He gives me a small frown and replies, "I know, but I'd rather you be okay with it."

Looking back, I suppose that sentence was the start of it all. John Egbert was very unusual, and I couldn't help it. I fell for him.

 _ **(A/N:**_

 _ **C: Two chapters in one day, heh, that's pretty good for me :33 Lemme know what you think of the story! Friendly critique is helpful, flames are not.**_


	3. Chapter 3

"He's over again?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"You're sure he's not playing you?"

I stare at John's back who's faced away from me and Bro to ogle our sword collection. His ooo's and aaah's bring a small smile to my face.

"Look at him, he couldn't deceive a baby. I've known him for about a month now too; if he had wanted to hurt me he probably would've done it by now."

True to his word, John ended up sitting next to me and Karkat in homeroom everyday. At first I tried my hardest to ignore him, answering his questions with grunts and nods. Then I started to realize he was genuinely being nice. I don't know how he does it, but he treats everyone like they're the same. Like some of us are important when we're not. He's staring at me no inquisitively, probably wondering why we're still hanging around my living room when there are video games to be played.

I turn away from Bro without another word and head towards my room. John follows, walking backwards. He's still staring at the swords, and that's probably why he trips over a smuppet not a second later. He and the ugly piece of plush rump squeak, and he topples into me. I land on my stomach with groan, John's weight pressing into my legs.

"It wouldn't hurt to pay attention. It would actually hurt me a lot less if you did."

John giggles, rolling to the side so I can get up. I roll my eyes, and stick out my hand. He grabs it and pulls himself up, now standing mere inches away from me. He still has my hand, and he smiles at me, his eyes crinkling and his small nose scrunching up.

"Thanks Dave."

o0o0o0o

Another few months go by, and now John is over almost daily. I asked him once if his parents know he's hanging around a warm mark, and he laughs and says his father is proud of him. When he speaks of his father his voice is filled with affection. I learn his father is part of a group who want to change the world. They want all marks to be equal, and the killing to stop. I told him that it sounded like a dream.

He's hanging out at my house again today, but he's acting different. An excited sort of nervous that's kind of cute. We're out in the living room, and he's talking to Bro who's grown fond of him.

"Hey Dave, let's go to your room."

Bro wiggles his eyebrows at me, and I feel my face heat up. John must have missed it because he looking confusedly between me and my brother. He shrugs then makes his way to my room.

Once I've shut the door behind me I place myself next to him on my bed, moving my black pillow so I can lean on it.

"You were rather anxious to get me in here. What's up?"

John bites his lip and reaches into the pocket of his green sweatshirt.

"Well my father told me that years ago there was this holiday called Christmas. Basically it was a time where friends and family gave each other presents and celebrated together. We don't celebrate it anymore though, because Christmas colours were both red and green. A cool colour and a warm colour. The Government didn't like it I guess and it slowly disappeared."

He lets out a nervous and pulls out what was in his pocket. It's a pair of sunglasses, aviators.

"I know you really don't like your mark and it's hard to hide, but these could help. I think they're big enough to cover it."

"John-"

He interrupts, waving his arms with a worried expression.

"I mean, I'm not telling you to hide who you are or be ashamed! Agh, maybe it was a stupid idea. I just thought that if you're ever uncomfortable going somewhere you could just-"

This time I interrupt him. I throw my arms around him, and he must not have expected it, because he falls backwards onto the bed. I bury my face in his neck, and when I inhale I can smell the minty soap he uses.

"That means… You like it?"

I nod against him, not trusting myself to speak. I lift my face up and he meets my gaze. His clear blue against my fiery red.

"I love them John."

o0o0o0o

An hour later I'm wearing my glasses and shutting the front door behind John. Bro looks over from the kitchen and raises an eyebrow at my newly acquired shades.

"They're ironic."

o0o0o0o

I wear my aviators to school everyday now. When Karkat saw them he rolled his eyes at me and muttered, "fuckass". I can tell he likes them. Besides homeroom John and I share two more classes, and if we aren't talking we're passing each other notes. I can tell our teachers are not pleased. They won't let us choose our partners anymore, and more often than not I get paired with a cool mark who thinks they're high and mighty. On these days John sends me sad smiles from across the room.

At lunch John, Karkat, and I find a spot out in the school's courtyard to eat. I take a bottle of apple juice and a sandwich out of my bag.

"I'll trade you a bag of gushers if you give me a sip of apple juice."

"You'll probably give me the gushers anyway, I'm pretty sure you have an unlimited supply."

"That's not… Okay, well kind of true."

John sticks out his tongue and swipes the bottle of AJ from my hands.

"Just get a room already, jesus fuck", Karkat grumbles as he bites viciously into his own lunch.

I can feel my ears turning red, and John nearly chokes on the apple juice he'd stolen. With an uneasy laugh I brush off Karkats comment. I was about to make a witty retort, when I hear a few shouts from the other end of the courtyard. I get up when I see a crowd forming around two figures. One's Eridan Ampora, infamous school playboy. The other is… Feferi. Oh shit.

I stalk towards the crowd of people, just barely processing John and Karkat yelling after me. I start pushing people aside, warm and cool marks alike.

"Fef, I could save you! You don't have that much longer left. Just go out with me, I know they'll make an exception. I'm an Ampora after all."

"Eridan! Leave me alone! Get it through your thick skull that I don't like you like that! I miss being your frond", she pleads.

"I don't want to be your anemone, let's just go back to how things use to be."

There's a loud _smack_ , and the crowd instantly quiets. Feferi's hand is covering her cheek, a look of utter shock across her face. Eridan's chest is heaving, and his face is tinged red with anger. I'm done just watching.

I curl my hand into a fist and storm up to him. Before he even realizes I'm there, he's on the floor with a bloody nose, and my fist is throbbing.

"I promised I would look after her. If you go after her again, I can promise you much worse than a bloody nose."

I put my arm around Feferi's shoulder and lead her back to Karkat and John, who are staring at me with mouths gaping.

"I can't believe you just fucking did that."

"That was so brave Dave! Are you alright Feferi?"

The brunette nods, her curly hair bouncing with the movement. She looks up at me with sad hazel eyes, and I realize she was crying.

"Thank you… I don't know what he would've done if you hadn't swam in and helped."

"Don't worry about it. I promised Meenah to stand up for you."

"She asked you to do that?"

"Yeah, at Dirks funeral."

Mentioning him makes my chest hurt and John must have known something was up, because he scoots closer to me on the grass and rests his head on my shoulder. I slowly slide my hand into his and lace my fingers through his. He squeezes them reassuringly, and invites Feferi to sit down. For once, things seem right in the world.

 _ **(A/N:**_

 _ **C: Another chapter done! Thanks for reading this far :D**_


	4. Chapter 4

"Just ask him out already fuckass."

We're in homeroom, and John's sharpening his pencil at the teachers desk, exchanging pleasantries with her. I guess Karkat caught me staring at his back. Again.

"I can't do that," I whisper to him. He just rolls his eyes and goes back to texting someone. I peek out of the corner of my shades, and smirk.

"Like you're one to talk. Chatting with Sollux again?"

The tips of Karkat's ears turn red, and he snaps back at me.

"Shut up! That's none of your fucking business!"

"No need to be shy Kitkat, I won't tell anyone."

"Tell anyone what?"

John's standing over us, a curious light in his eyes. I shrug, my smirk growing, while Karkat starts stammering and cursing. The blue eyed boy sits with a sigh, his lips jutting out into a pout.

"You guys never tell me anything."

His utter child like expression makes the corners of my mouth turn up. John raises an eyebrow, and I immediately return to my regular demeanor. Calm and cool. I gaze once more at the paper on my desk. It's math homework, and I can't bring myself to start it. What's the point? I'm not exactly worried about how failing classes will affect my future.

"You should smile more often."

John had some how managed to scoot his chair next to mine without my notice, and he's so close, his mouth right next to my ear. A shiver runs down my spine.

"It's cute."

He pulls away with a mischievous smile, and returns to the essay spread out on his desk. I catch Karkat snorting, as he mutters something under his breath. The sound of the school bell pierces through the air, and the room instantly flies into a flurry of activity. John swings his backpack over one shoulder, and says a hurried "see you at lunch" before disappearing in the crowd of students.

o0o0o0o

After school I find myself in my room with John, sprawled out across my bed. He's now such a constant in our household that Bro orders or makes food for three without asking. He just assumes John's going to be there, and he's always right.

"What'd you get on that math test?"

"Do you even have to ask? You know I suck harder than a broke hooker at math."

John wrinkles his nose at my analogy

"To descriptive?"

"Uh, yeah. Totally unironic"

"I thought it was funny."

John rolls onto his side to face me, amusement flickering across his face.

"You thought wrong cool kid."

His voice is playful, and his smile gives me a flash of his buck teeth. I have a brief period of inner struggle. He could be my friend, but I know he has the potential to be more. Can I really afford to be thinking like that though? We have a little more than a year before I can't be in his life anymore. I could be a pleasant memory, or a painful haunt. I couldn't do that to him. I care for him more than I'd like to admit, and I probably shouldn't have left our friendship go on as long as it did.

It's just that… His laugh's like a drug, and I'd do anything to get more of it. Every single one of his smiles make this bleak world a little brighter. His small polite ones, his wide ones where he hides his mouth behind his hand self-consciously, and his sly ones he wears especially when one of his pranks are discovered. John Egbert is an addictive habit I need to break. Not only his sake, but for mine. Warm colours can't afford to be happy, and what makes me any different?

I turn onto my back, avoiding John's beam. I don't deserve that look.

"Dave?"

"Hm?"

He sits up and leans over me, his messy ebony bags falling over his eyes. He brushes them aside habitually, and looks down at me with concern.

"You might be able to hide behind your glasses and poker face around anyone else, but not me. What's wrong?"

He carefully slips my glasses off, and on impulse I cover my right eye along with my mark. I avert my gaze from him, looking to the side.

"I don't think we should keep hanging out."

John cocks his head to the side, his mouth quirking down.

"Did I do something wrong? I swear I didn't mean to offend you, whatever I did! Oh god, please don't hate-"

"No, John shut up for five seconds."

His jaw snaps shut and he stares at me, waiting for an explanation.

"We're just too different. Like night and day. You're a cool colour and I'm a warm colour. You'd be better off with your own kind. I stand by that."

"Shouldn't I be the one to decide that?"

He looks angry, and I wince at the harshness in his voice.

"I also know that's a load of bullshit."

He drags my hand away from my eye, and traces the edge of my mark with his thumb.

"These marks don't define us. They're just a way The World Government can cut down our numbers, drown out those who might rebel against their system. Warm marks aren't broken, or flawed or dangerous. Some of them are brilliant, or gifted, or beautiful. They just don't get the chance to see that, because everyone else beats the self confidence they might've had out of them."

Each word pierces me like a blade, and some part of me realizes he's right. It's just to hard to believe. John's propping himself up on an elbow, while his other hand is still caressing my mark.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean all that. I just don't want you hurt because of me."

"You wanted to push me away?"

"Yeah. I think I could live with you hating me, but not with you mourning me."

John's hand is sifting through my hair now, and I lean into his touch with a heavy sigh. He lowers his face, and his lips brush against my cheek. His eyes meet mine, and a silent agreement passes between us. Where one of us would go, the other would follow.

 _ **(A/N:**_

 _ **C: Hullo again! In addition to apologizing for this chapters shortness, I'd like to say sorry that all the chapters aren't longer in general! This story was meant to be short (in fact shorter than it is now..) but I can't stop writing! I've really fallen in love with this AU, and once it's done I have to get back to Dave in Wonderland and Chasing Hearts, Hiding Blame. However, if enough people seem to like this I'll consider writing a sequel OR Dirk and Jake's story. Or Karkat and Sollux. Or really whatever couple you guys want, haha. I kinda made John more of the dominant one in this? I know it's normally Dave's thing, but I wanted to try something different. Also, please excuse any mistakes I've made. It's almost midnight here, and I should be sleeping honestly. Lemme know your thoughts by dropping me a review, or follow/favorite if you want good author vibes flowing your way! Thanks for reading this far, and sorry for the long note :)**_


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